In U.S. Pat. No. 3,780,856 (Braverman) there is disclosed a medicinal dispensing device comprising a base member in the form of a plurality of flanges having corners and which are detachably connected to each other along predefined frangible lines so that each flange may be separated from the remaining flanges to form an individual dispensing unit. Each unit includes a chamber with an outer opening depending from the flange of the unit. The chamber is adapted to hold a drug, tablet, capsule, etc., in it. A continuous closure member is provided covering the chamber openings, with selected portions of the interior surface of the closure member being in contact with the flanges. The closure member is perforated along selected lines corresponding to the frangible flange lines of the base member. Portions of the interior surface of the closure member corresponding to the flanges are provided with a tacky adhesive coating which is in contact with the flanges to releasably secure the closure member onto the base member, such that each chamber and its surrounding flange is covered by a respective portion of the cover member to form a sealed compartment. Other areas of the interior surface of the closure member are non-tacky, e.g., include a liner patch, and cover the chamber openings. The sealed compartments are configured to be separated from each other along their frangible flange lines to produce separate sealed compartment units. At least one corner of each flange includes a cut-away area so that the existing corner of the closure member overlies the cut-away area to function as a lift tab to facilitate the removal, e.g., peeling, of the closure member from the flange of the sealed compartment unit to provide access to the contents of the chamber.
Other prior art medicinal dispensing devices, components thereof, and methods of manufacturing and assembling the same are found in the following U.S. Pat. No. 4,122,651 (Braverman); U.S. Pat. No. 4,211,329 (Braverman); U.S. Pat. No. 4,316,541 (Braverman et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 4,322,930 (Braverman); U.S. Pat. No. 4,416,375 (Braverman et al.) and U.S. Pat. No. 4,673,086 (Braverman et al.)
While that prior art medicinal dispensing device of the aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 3,780,856 is eminently suitable for its intended purposes it nevertheless leaves something to be desire from the standpoint of functionality and ease of assembling it. The subject invention addresses those needs.
All references cited herein are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.